May
28, 2004 - MEMORIAL DAY SPECIAL
MEMORIAL DAY IN CAMAS WASHINGTON
My wife and I look forward to Memorial Day as the informal kickoff to summer, but also as a reminder that Americans still care.
Every year, the routine is the same: on Saturday a local Boy Scout troop places flags on the graves of veterans at the town cemetery, then a steady stream of visitors all day Sunday and Monday passes through to place flowers and pay their respects.
It's not the worst thing in the world to live across the street from a cemetery, as we do - not when the cemetery is as beautiful as Camas cemetery is, and especially so on Memorial Day and Veterans' Day, when the lush green lawn is studded with flags and flowers, and the tall evergreens, silhouetted against the sky, stand guard in the background.
*********** The 1st Infantry Division, "THE BIG RED ONE", is a very proud U.S. Army division.
Army's All-American Don Holleder... Donald W. Holleder's name on the Vietnam Wall... Don Holleder as a West Point cadet THE MEN OF THE BLACK LIONS, LOST WITH DON HOLLEDER AT ONG THANH, VIET NAM, OCTOBER 17, 1967 K I A ... Adkins, Donald W.... Allen, Terry... Anderson, Larry M.... Barker, Gary L.... Blackwell, James L., Jr.... Bolen, Jackie Jr. ... Booker, Joseph O. ... Breeden, Clifford L. Jr ... Camero, Santos... Carrasco, Ralph ... Chaney, Elwood D. Jr... Cook, Melvin B.... Crites, Richard L.... Crutcher, Joe A. ...... Dodson, Wesley E.... Dowling, Francis E.... Durham, Harold B. Jr ... Dye, Edward P. ... East, Leon N.... Ellis, Maurice S.... Familiare, Anthony ... Farrell, Michael J. ...Fuqua, Robert L. Jr. ...Gallagher, Michael J. ...Garcia, Arturo ...Garcia, Melesso ...Gilbert, Stanley D. ...Gilbertson, Verland ...Gribble, Ray N. ...Holleder, Donald W. ...Jagielo, Allen D. ...Johnson, Willie C. Jr ...Jones, Richard W. ...Krischie, John D. ...Lancaster, James E. ...Larson, James E. ...Lincoln, Gary G. ...Lovato, Joe Jr. ...Luberta, Andrew P. ...Megiveron, Emil G. ...Miller, Michael M. ...Moultrie, Joe D. ...Nagy, Robert J. ...Ostroff, Steven L. ...Platosz, Walter ...Plier, Eugene J. ...Porter, Archie ...Randall, Garland J. ...Reece, Ronney D. ...Reilly, Allan V. ...Sarsfield, Harry C. ...Schroder, Jack W. ...Shubert, Jackie E. ...Sikorski, Daniel ...Smith, Luther ...Thomas, Theodore D. Jr. ...Tizzio, Pasquale T. ...Wilson, Kenneth P. .... M I A ... Fitzgerald, Paul ...Hargrove, Olin Jr.
The first U.S. victory of World War I is claimed by the 1st Division when the 28th Infantry Regiment attacked and seized the small French village of CANTIGNY on the 28th of May 1918. The 28th Infantry Regiment later became known as the "Black Lions of CANTIGNY".
The 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry "Black Lions", the U.S. battalion which fought the Battle of Ong Thanh on October 17, 1967, approximately 50 years later, was from the same proud regiment of the "BIG RED ONE".
General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, said of the 1st Division: "The Commander-in-Chief has noted in this division a special pride of service and a high state of morale, never broken by hardship nor battle."
These words have never been forgotten by the 1st Infantry Division. All military units seek to be known as special and unique - the best. The 1st Infantry Division has been able, over the many years of its existence, to retain that esprit, and most of those who have served in many different US Army divisions remember the special esprit which the 1st Division was able to imbue throughout its ranks.
Several years ago, while visiting the First Division (Big Red One) Museum in Wheaton, Illinois I came across this poem...
If you are able
Save a place for them inside of you,
And save one backward glance
When you are leaving for places
They can no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say you loved them,
Though you may or may not always have.
Take what they have left
And what they have taught you with their dying,
And keep it with your own.
And in that time when men feel safe
To call the war insane,
Take one moment to embrace these gentle heroes
You left behind.
by Major Michael D. O'Donnell... shortly before being killed in action in Vietnam, 1970 - *********** Robert W. Service is one of my favorite
poets, and this poem, about a young Englishman and his
father, is especially poignant on a day when we remember
our people who gave everything.
- Young Fellow My Lad by Robert W. Service
-
"Where are you going, Young Fellow My Lad,
On this glittering morn of May?"
"I'm going to join the Colours, Dad;
They're looking for men, they say."
"But you're only a boy, Young Fellow My Lad;
You aren't obliged to go."
"I'm seventeen and a quarter, Dad,
And ever so strong, you know."
--------------
"So you're off to France, Young Fellow My Lad,
And you're looking so fit and bright."
"I'm terribly sorry to leave you, Dad,
But I feel that I'm doing right."
"God bless you and keep you, Young Fellow My Lad,
You're all of my life, you know."
"Don't worry. I'll soon be back, dear Dad,
And I'm awfully proud to go."
--------------
"Why don't you write, Young Fellow My Lad?
I watch for the post each day;
And I miss you so, and I'm awfully sad,
And it's months since you went away.
And I've had the fire in the parlour lit,
And I'm keeping it burning bright
Till my boy comes home; and here I sit
Into the quiet night."
-------------
"What is the matter, Young Fellow My Lad?
No letter again to-day.
Why did the postman look so sad,
And sigh as he turned away?
I hear them tell that we've gained new ground,
But a terrible price we've paid:
God grant, my boy, that you're safe and sound;
But oh I'm afraid, afraid."
-----------------
"They've told me the truth, Young Fellow My Lad:
You'll never come back again:
(OH GOD! THE DREAMS AND THE DREAMS I'VE HAD,
AND THE HOPES I'VE NURSED IN VAIN!)
For you passed in the night, Young Fellow My Lad,
And you proved in the cruel test
Of the screaming shell and the battle hell
That my boy was one of the best.
"So you'll live, you'll live, Young Fellow My Lad,
In the gleam of the evening star,
In the wood-note wild and the laugh of the child,
In all sweet things that are.
And you'll never die, my wonderful boy,
While life is noble and true;
For all our beauty and hope and joy
We will owe to our lads like you."
- *********** Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, was set aside to honor the men who died in the Civil War. (There was a time when certain southern states did not observe it, preferring instead to observe their own days to honor Confederate war dead.)
- The Civil War soldiers called it "seeing the
elephant." It meant experiencing combat. They started
out cocky, but soon learned how suddenly horrible -
how unforgiving and inescapable - combat could be. By
the end of the Civil War 620,000 of them on both sides
lay dead. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were left
dead or homeless.
"I have never realized the 'pomp and circumstance' of glorious war before this," a Confederate soldier bitterly wrote, "Men...lying in every conceivable position; the dead...with eyes open, the wounded begging piteously for help."
"All around, strange mingled roar - shouts of defiance, rally, and desperation; and underneath, murmured entreaty and stifled moans; gasping prayers, snatches of Sabbath song, whispers of loved names; everywhere men torn and broken, staggering, creeping, quivering on the earth, and dead faces with strangely fixed eyes staring stark into the sky. Things which cannot be told - nor dreamed. How men held on, each one knows, - not I."
Each battle was a story of great courage and audacity, sometimes of miscommunication and foolishness. But it's the casualty numbers that catch our eyes. The numbers roll by and they are hard for us to believe even in these days of modern warfare. Shiloh: 23,741, Seven Days': 36,463, Antietam: 26,134, Fredericksburg: 17,962, Gettysburg: 51,112, and on and on (in most cases, the South named battles after the town that served as their headquarters in that conflict, the North named them after rivers or creeks nearby. So Manassas for the South was Bull Run for the North; Antietam for the Union was Sharpsburg for the Confederacy).
General William T. Sherman looked at the aftermath of Shiloh and wrote, "The scenes on this field would have cured anybody of war."
- From "Seeing the Elephant" Raw Recruits at the Battle of Shiloh - Joseph Allan Frank and George A. Reaves - New York: Greenwood Press, 1989
- *********** Following World War I, Americans began to
celebrate the week leading up to Memorial Day as Poppy
Week.
Thanks to a poem by Major John McCrae, a Canadian surgeon, the poppy, which burst into bloom all over the once-bloody battlefields of northern Europe, came to symbolize the rebirth of life following the tragedy of war. In America, in Australia, and in other nations which fought in World War I, veterans' organizations sold imitation poppies every year to raise funds to assist disabled veterans.
- Major McCrae had spent seventeen days hearing the screams and dealing with the suffering of men wounded in the bloody battle at Ypres, in Flanders, a part of Belgium, in the spring of 1915. He wrote afterwards, "I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."
The death of a close friend and former student especially affected Major McCrae. Following the burial, which in the absence of a chaplain, Major McCrae had had to perform, he sat in the back of an ambulance and, gazing out at the wild poppies growing in profusion in a nearby cemetery, began to compose a poem, scribbling the words in a notebook as he went.
But when he was done, he discarded it. Only through the efforts of a fellow officer, who rescued it and sent it to newspapers in England, was it published.
The poem, "In Flanders Fields", is considered perhaps the greatest of all wartime poems.
The special significance of the poppies is that poppy seeds can lie dormant on the ground for years, until someone digs up the ground. Only when the soil has been turned over do they flower.
Needless to say, much of the soil of northern Belgium had been uprooted by violence of battle, so that by the time Major McCrae wrote his poem, it was said that the poppies were in bloom as no one could ever remember having seen them before.
In Flanders Fields... by John McCraeIn Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
- In Flanders fields.
- ***********"They
never fail who die in a great cause: the block may soak
their gore, their heads may sodden in the sun; their
limbs be strung to city gates and castle walls--but still
their spirit walks abroad. Though years elapse, and
others share as dark a doom, they but augment the deep
and sweeping thoughts which overpower all others, and
conduct the world at last to freedom." Lord Byron
- Like many other phenomena in life, history has a
tendency to be fickle. In 2001, some thirty-four years
after the Battle of Ông Thanh, and the
subsequent withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam in
1973, which was followed by the "honorable peace" that
saw the North Vietnamese army conquer South Vietnam in
1975 in violation of the Paris Peace Accords, most
historians, as well as a large majority of the
American people, may consider the U.S. involvement in
Vietnam a disastrous and tragic waste and a time of
shame in U.S. history. Consider, however, the fact
that since the late 1940s, the Soviet Union was the
greatest single threat to U.S. security. Yet for forty
years, war between the Soviet Union and the United
States was averted. Each time a Soviet threat surfaced
during that time (Greece, Turkey, Korea, Berlin, Cuba,
Vietnam, and Afghanistan), although it may have been
in the form of a "war of national liberation," as the
Vietnam war was characterized, the United States gave
the Soviet Union the distinct message that each
successive threat would not be a Soviet walkover. In
fact, the Soviets were stunned by the U.S. reactions
in both Korea and Vietnam. They shook their heads,
wondering what interest a great power like the United
States could have in those two godforsaken countries.
They thought: "These Americans are crazy. They have
nothing to gain; and yet they fight and lose thousands
of men over nothing. They are irrational." Perhaps
history in the long-term--two hundred or three hundred
years from now--will say that the western democracies,
led by the United States, survived in the world, and
their philosophy of government of the people, by the
people, for the people continues to survive today (in
2301) in some measure due to resolute sacrifices made
in the mid-twentieth century by men like those listed
in the last chapter of this book. Then the words of
Lord Byron, as quoted in this book's preface, will not
ring hollow, but instead they will inspire other men
and women of honor in the years to come.
From "The Beast was Out There", by Brigadier General James Shelton, USA (Ret.)
- Jim Shelton is a former Delaware football player (wing-T guard) who served in Korea and Vietnam and as a combat infantryman rose to the rank of General. He was at Ong Thanh on that fateful day in October, 1967 when Don Holleder was killed. He had played football against Don Holleder in college, and was one of those called on to identify Major Holleder's body.
- Now retired, he serves as Colonel of the Black Lions and has been instrumental in the establishment of the Black Lion Award for young American football players. General Shelton personally signs every Black Lions Award certificate.
- The title of his book is taken from Captain Jim Kasik's description of the enemy: "the beast was out there, and the beast was hungry."
*********** In 1954-55 I lived at West Point N.Y. where my father was stationed as a member of the staff at the United States Military Academy.
Don Holleder was an All American end on the Red Blaik coached Army football team which was a perennial eastern gridiron power in 40s and 50s. On Fall days I would run home from the post school, drop off my books, and head directly to the Army varsity practice field which overlooked the Hudson River and was only a short sprint from my house.
Army had a number of outstanding players on the roster back then, but my focus was on Don Holleder, our All-America end turned quarterback in a controversial position change that had sportswriters and Army fans buzzing throughout the college football community that year.
Don looked like a hero, tall, square jawed, almost stately in his appearance. He practiced like he played, full out all the time. He was the obvious leader of the team in addition to being its best athlete and player.
In 1955 it was common for star players to play both sides of the ball and Don was no exception delivering the most punishing tackles in practice as well as game situations. At the end of practice the Army players would walk past the parade ground (The Plain), then past my house and into the Arvin Gymnasium where the team's locker room was located.
Very often I would take that walk stride for stride with Don and the team and best of all, Don would sometimes let me carry his helmet. It was gold with a black stripe down the middle and had the most wonderful smell of sweat and leather. Inside the helmet suspension was taped a sweaty number 16, Don's jersey number.
- While Don's teammates would talk and laugh among themselves in typical locker room banter, Don would ask me about school, show me how to grip the ball and occasionally chide his buddies if the joking ever got bawdy in front of "the little guy". On Saturdays I lived and died with Don's exploits on the field in Michie Stadium.
- In his senior year Don's picture graced the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine and he led Army to a winning season culminating in a stirring victory over Navy in front of 100,000 fans in Philadelphia. During that incredible year I don't ever remember Don not taking time to talk to me and patiently answer my boyish questions about the South Carolina or Michigan defense ("I'll bet they don't have anybody as fast as you, huh, Don?").
- Don graduated with his class in June 1956 and was
assigned to the 25th Infantry Division in Schofield
Barracks, Hawaii. Coincidentally, my Dad was also
assigned to the 25th at the same time so I got to watch
Don quarterback the 14th Infantry Regiment football team
to the Division championship in 1957.
There was one major drawback to all of Don's football-gained notoriety - he wanted no part of it. He wanted to be a soldier and an infantry leader. But division recreational football was a big deal in the Army back then and for someone with Don's college credentials not to play was unheard of.
- In the first place players got a lot of perks for representing their Regiment, not to mention hero status with the chain of command. Nevertheless, Don wanted to trade his football helmet for a steel pot and finally, with the help of my Dad, he succeeded in retiring from competitive football and getting on with his military profession.
- It came as no surprise to anyone who knew Don that he was a natural leader of men in arms, demanding yet compassionate, dedicated to his men and above all fearless. Sure enough after a couple of TO&E infantry tours his reputation as a soldier matched his former prowess as an athlete.
- It was this reputation that won him the favor of the Army brass and he soon found himself as an Aide-de-camp to the four star commander of the Continental Army Command in beautiful Ft Monroe, Virginia.
- With the Viet Nam War escalating and American combat casualties increasing every day, Ft Monroe would be a great place to wait out the action and still promote one's Army career - a high-profile job with a four star senior rater, safely distanced from the conflict in southeast Asia.
- Once again, Don wanted no part of this safe harbor
and respectfully lobbied his boss, General Hugh P. Harris
to get him to Troops in Viet Nam. Don got his wish but
not very long after arriving at the First Division he was
killed attempting to lead a relief column to wounded
comrades caught in a Viet Cong ambush.
I remember the day I found out about Don's death. I was in the barber's chair at The Citadel my sophomore year when General Harris (Don's old boss at Ft Monroe, now President of The Citadel) walked over to me and motioned me outside.
- He knew Don was a friend of mine and sought me out to tell me that he was KIA. It was one of the most defining moments of my life. As I stood there in front of the General the tears welled up in my eyes and I said "No, please, sir. Don't say that." General Harris showed no emotion and I realized that he had experienced this kind of hurt too many times to let it show. "Biff", he said, "Don died doing his duty and serving his country. He had alternatives but wouldn't have it any other way. We will always be proud of him, Biff."
- With that, he turned and walked away. As I watched him go I didn't know the truth of his parting words. I shed tears of both pride and sorrow that day in 1967, just as I am doing now, 34 years later, as I write this remembrance. In my mind's eye I see Don walking with his teammates after practice back at West Point, their football cleats making that signature metallic clicking on concrete as they pass my house at the edge of the parade ground; he was a leader among leaders.
- As I have been writing this, I periodically looked up at the November 28, 1955 Sports Illustrated cover which hangs on my office wall, to make sure I'm not saying anything Don wouldn't approve of, but he's smiling out from under that beautiful gold helmet and thinking about the Navy game. General Harris was right. We will always be proud of Don Holleder, my boyhood hero... Biff Messinger, Mountainville, NY, 2001
"Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry
*********** As further proof that very little in football is new... most of us have heard a power sweep with a lot of blockers referred to as "Student Body Right," the idea being that it appeared as if the entire student body were leading the runner. Very clever word picture.
Some of us are old enough to remember the phrase being used to describe John McKay's I-formation power sweep at USC back in the 1960s. To the strongside he called it "28 pitch," and to the weakside he called it "39 Toss", and either way, he pulled both guards and the strongside tackle. (And yes, he led with the fullback and his QB tossed and led also. Sound familiar?) That was a lot of beef out in front of the runner, and some sportswriter, probably a clever wordsmith from the LA Times, came up with the name "Student Body Right."
Or did he? In "Great College Football Coaches of the Twenties and Thirties," (1973) Tim Cohane wrote about Red Blaik's wingback reverse, when he was running the single wing at Dartmouth. It was 1937, and Dartmouth's Bob McLeod drove opponents crazy on the deep reverse with the tailback and three linemen leading him. Yale assistant Greasy Neale (later to win an NFL title as coach of the Philadelphia Eagles) referred to it as "that play in which the student body comes down out of the stands and gets into the interference."
*********** Hi Coach, I hope this finds you and yours doing well. Just wanted to drop a short note about a spring scrimmage I watched last night. I went out to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando to watch Ron Timson's Umatilla Bulldogs take on Lake Highland Prep in a scrimmage. I tell you what, everytime I watch the DW in action, it is amazing. Ron's team lost 16 seniors from last years team, but it really didn't look as though they have missed a beat. They scored 2 TDs on the first four plays from scrimmage and on top of that, added two 2-point conversions. 16 points on 6 total plays, not too shabby. My wife, who was also watching the game said to me, "How does anyone think that this offense won't work at the HS level?" I know that Ron won't toot his own horn but, his team really did look pretty impressive and ended the scrimmage winning 30-14. It was just fun to sit there and watch and see Ron run the play I was thinking he should run. I sit there and tell my wife, "watch this, I bet he runs the counter for the score" and damn if Ron doesn't call 47C and score a TD. Regards, Donnie Hayes, Orlando, FL
Coach, Thanks for the report. Coach Timson has been a successful Double-Wing coach not only in Florida but before that in Nebraska. He is a great representative for Double-Wingers everywhere.
Actually, Coach - Damn near anything will work at the HS level if you believe in it and know it and know how to teach it and you are able to convince your kids that you believe in it and know it and know how to teach it.
Of course, it takes more than a scheme - it does help to have good organizational skills and good team discipline and you have play good defense and you are sound in the kicking game. And kids with halfway decent talent who are willing to work hard.
I do know that Coach Timson has good assistants, too.
Your wife, obviously, knows more football than a lot of so-called football people!
*********** Let's hear it from Coach Timson himself...
Coach Wyatt,
Well, once again this offense has shown me how right I am to have humg my hat on it some five years ago. We went into spring practice this year having lost 16 seniors from a varsity squad of 30 at the end of last year. Those 16 seniors had been the backbone of my team for three years and were largely responsible for turning the program around here at Umatilla. They all either started or were first line subs for us last year (we didn't have to hide any seniors) so I wondered just how we might look going into this season. Out of those seniors I had lost my 280 lb B-back, my starting QB, both my TEs, an A-back, six lineman (many who could play C, G and tackle), the best safety we have had here and two Lbers.
We first started looking around for a replacement at QB and I settled on a DE/RB who will be a junior next year. He is a real physical kid and I felt he would block like we demand and I felt he threw the ball well enough to control our rather low flying air game. I had another Jr B-back, but he is just 5'8, 175, but fairly quick. I have two senior WBs coming back, both about 6'180, and both sprinters on the track team. My center was my only starting lineman coming back, but we felt we had some pretty good kids coming up from the JV team. I also have a senior that played some TE and FB and was a starting OLB. I also had a senior DB, who had been a back-up QB, but felt he was too light to block like I wanted. That is kind of what we were looking at going into the spring.
Well, the JV linemen have really come on and filled the gaps up front. My senior center is 6'3, 285, one guard is 5'8, 165, the other is 5'9, 235 and the tackles are 6'2, 240 and 5'10, 235. We have a couple of pretty good athletes playing TE, and a couple of back-up WBs who showed some promise.
We went into our spring jamboree against Lake Highland Prep and Leesburg, last Thursday night at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Lake Highland Prep is a strong Class 2 school and they send Division I athletes out of there each year. Leesburg is a 4A school in our county and their program is on the way up. So it looked like a real challenge to us as we made our way to Orlando. We played Lake Highland a half first, and defeated them 30-14 and then defeated Leesburg 14-6 and had a touchdown called back and let the clock run out with the ball on their one yard line. I couldn't have been prouder of a group of kids. They played their hearts out and though we have much more work to do, I feel like we will be very competitive in the fall. The big thing is we couldn't have made the transition with these kids so quickly in any other offense. The two QBs had no turnovers, they completed 1/2 passes and led the team well. My A-back had a 30 yd TD and 76 yards total, while my C-back had 3 Tds and 142 yards on 5 carries. My B-back chipped in with 72 yards. We had another A-back get a TD and another C-back get a 2pt conversion. We wore both teams down and I think they were both glad when their half with us was over. These were two very quality programs we played, so our kids came out of it with a lot of confidence and ready to go to work in our summer program. I thank you so much for what you have meant to both programs I have been at since starting the double-wing, and I will always be a dedicated follower of this offense. I know of no other offense I could have made this group this competitive in during this spring. They love it and my staff loves it.
Thanks again, Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida
*********** Don't get pulled in by the people who are trying to tell you that the high price of gasoline is just a scheme by Big Oil to suck more money out of the Little Guy. A few days ago, there was circulating on the Internet a call for a nationwide boycott of gasoline, in order to stick it to Big Oil.
That is economic (and political) illiteracy. Might just as well try to get the law of gravity repealed while they're at it.
As anyone knows who has taken Econ 101 long enough to get a grade higher than INC, price is determined by two forces: supply and demand. When supply can't keep up with demand, the price which buyers and sellers agree on must rise. It's that simple. Anyone in possession of a Super Bowl ticket - or in need of one - will understand.
Supply of oil, world-wide, is simply not increasing. Partly, we can thank the liberals who refuse to let us drill for oil in the ANWR for that. And, of course, Iraq is not producing what it once produced, for obvious reasons. Then there is OPEC, which controls most of the world's oil. OPEC nations know that their oil reserves won't last forever, and that it's in their interest to sell their crude for the absolute maximum they can get.
OPEC has us by the short hairs because there is no easy way we can lower demand - no easy way to reduce our need for oil. Our economy depends on petroleum for lots more things than just gasoline, and OPEC knows that by restricting the output of crude, it can force buyers world-wide to bid higher for it. They have no choice.
World-wide demand, on the other hand, is increasing by leaps and bounds, and although it is popular in some places to blame Americans and their SUVs, there is one huge factor that no amount of American energy-saving, be it windmills, electric powered cars or whatever can offset. It is a factor totally beyond our control and we might as well get used to it because it isn't going to go away - it's China.
China's economy is on fire, and as it steadily and rapidly grows, so does China's need for oil to fuel that economy. And since China itself produces next to no oil, that means that China is out there on the world market bidding against the rest of us for more and more oil, and driving up the price of crude in the process.
Oh, yes - and then there is the problem of turning all that crude oil into gasoline. That's done in places called refineries. We haven't built a new one in the US since 1981, and companies have actually closed several down, mainly because they couldn't produce the new, cleaner-burning gasoline grades that our laws now mandate. The bad news is, we couldn't refine enough gasoline for our own use even if we could get all the crude we wanted, so we wind up having to import the gasoline itself. We sure could use some new refineries, but try finding find a site for one - an oil refinery is about as popular a new neighbor as a nuclear power plant. And then, should you find a location, it takes years to build one.
None of us likes the idea of high fuel prices, which, if they continue, will begin to take their toll, including higher costs for goods delivered by truck. But it is idiocy to think that they are the result of a conspiracy by Big Oil, or that any politician on earth has the power to do anything about it, short of invading Saudi Arabia and siezing its oil fields. (Which, come to think of it, is something I have been in favor of since September 11, 2001.)
*********** A former Army football player told of an impromptu meeting with Coach Bobby Ross following a spring practice session, and the discussion that followed: "One of his incidental metrics had to do with a review of the time it took the Army players to get up and get involved/re-engaged from the pile when a tackle had been made, versus the time it took a USAFA, or a USNA player to do the same...the Army player consistently took four times as long, on average. These are only seconds in time, but they are volumes in attitude, conditioning, confidence, and proper preparation for each players 20-25 minutes average playing time per game. He cited Junior Seay with the Chargers who literally had to be assisted in getting his gear off at the end of any game...he was totally exhausted, having left his total energy out there on the turf..."
*********** I enjoy watching the skate-by following the end of every Stanley Cup playoff series. It is great to see the admiration real professionals have for each other. Unlike that perfunctory, insincere ritual that follows every high school football game, something borrowed from soccer, hockey players who only minutes before had been knocking the crap out of each other take time with each handshake to pause and say something to each other.
*********** Lord, those WW II guys are great. I had to laugh my ass off at one old fella - 84, he said he was - telling Rush Limbaugh how worthless he thought Bill Clinton was - how he'd spent all that time in the Oval Office "havin' his flute tuned."
*********** You've heard me mention John Torres. He is a youth football coach - been one for years. A good one, too. But in his other life, he's John A. Torres, Special Agent In Charge of the San Francisco Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
He was quoted in newspapers throughout the West Friday when he announced that ATF agents in California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah and Washington State along with the FBI and local law enforcement agencies had participated in the arrests of 14 people charged with federal firearms violations.
They were charged with dealing firearms without a license, illegal sales of firearms, possession of unregistered firearms, and possession of firearms by prohibited persons. Several of those arrested were felons or were covered by domestic violence restraining orders and prohibited from possessing firearms. One of them, Laquan J. Abdulrahim of East Palo Alto, Calif., was also charged with possession of body armor by a violent felon, a federal violation which by itself carries a maximum penalty of three years in federal prison.
The agents purchased guns over the past year at gun shows, one in Las Vegas and nine in Reno. The weapons included eight machine guns, 10 hand guns and 15 long guns.
"Undercover ATF agents purchased nearly 40 firearms using different Reno gun shows as the hub of activity," Torres told the media. "We also seized explosives at one residence in Reno today." The explosives, he said, included 20 blasting caps and 20 feet of detonating cord.
Among the items seized by agents were a bulletproof vest, a Korean-made AK47 machine gun, a .45-caliber submachine gun, an AK47 semiautomatic assault pistol, a Glock 9 mm pistol, a Glock .40-caliber pistol and a Baretta semiautomatic pistol.
Gun shows at Reno and Las Vegas have the potential to enable people from other nearby states, especially California, to obtain firearms illegally. Federal law states that only licensed dealers can sell firearms at gun shows and they can sell directly only to people from within the same state; sales to out-of-state buyers must include a licensed dealer from their home state.
"We want to show that you can't use gun shows as a vehicle to conduct illegal firearm sales," Torres said.
*********** Our guys made it all the way through World War II without benefit of deodorants (they did, you know - as Casey Stengel said, "you could look it up"). I wonder how they felt when they came home and heard the advertising guys starting to insist that they had to start smearing some stuff under their arms before going out. Hey - wasn't Lifebuoy enough?
I'm beginning to think I know how those guys felt about us.
There is this one particular Gillette commercial. A guy walks into the bathroom and opens the medicine cabinet. He's naked from the waist up, and except for his $65 haircut, he looks as if he's had every hair on his body removed by electrolysis. He's the definition of a "metrosexual" - a smooth-skin type who looks as if he could swing from either side of the plate.
He opens the medicine cabinet and reaches for what an off-camera voice tells us is the only thing a man needs - a moisturizer. Say what? A moisturizer? A man needs a moisturizer?
Let's hope we're not putting our troops in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan without moisturizer. God help us all if we are and Teddy Kennedy finds out.
*********** If you want the ultimate lip-buttoner... if you want something to stick in the face (or elsewhere) of the loudmouth know-nothing who looks at your Double-Wing and starts telling everyone who'll listen that it won't work, it won't work in high school, it won't work at the big school level, blah, blah, blah...
I can't think of anything you could do that would be more effective than to (1) sit him in a chair; (2) duct-tape him to it; (3) pop in the Clovis East highlights tape; (4) laugh in his face as he's forced to look at a Double-Wing team that can play with any high school team in the United States.
It's also not a bad thing to show to your kids - your parents, even, but omit the duct tape - as an example of how far the Double-Wing can take a team.
Would a spot in USA Today's Top 25 be far enough?
Clovis East High, just outside Fresno, California, won the 2004 Central Section Championship (California does not have a state championship) playing in the largest class, and wound up ranked #23 in the nation by USA Today. Yes, those rankings are highly subjective, and I know there are a lot of good teams in the US that are worthy of ranking, but I really do believe that only a mid-season loss to rival Clovis West - later avenged in the Section Championship game - kept the Clovis East Timberwolves from being ranked much, much higher. I would have put money on them against any team in the country.
The proof is in the tape, and what a tape it is. Coach Tim Murphy was kind enough to send me a copy, and after one look at it, I was excited. The tape is really well done - very professionally shot and edited. From the off-season weight competitions, to pre-season camps, to post-season celebrations, it tells the story of a great high school football team. There is a homecoming assembly that will knock your socks off. But the real story, of course, is the season itself, including the huge win over national power Long Beach Poly - in Long Beach - that brought Clovis East to national attention.
The tape offers a look at the Double-Wing at its best - the game action is well-shot, from good vantage points. Coach Murphy's guys can really execute the offense, and he has some very interesting wrinkles of his own that other Double-Wingers might find useful.
My boss, Tracy Jackson, stopped over to the house the other day and I just had to play the tape for him. He sat there, transfixed. Finally, he looked at me and said, "I'd like our kids to see this."
Coach Murphy is selling the tape. Here's how to get yours: send $29.95 to Coach Tim Murphy - 2373 Trenton Ave - Clovis CA 93611
*********** I've had some people ask about Dr, Ken Keuffel's new book, "Winning Single Wing" football. There is no man alive with more knowledge of the single wing - with special emphasis on the unbalanced line Penn/Princeton version - than Ken Keuffel. (His first book, "Simplified Single Wing Football," written 40 years ago, is still the best I've seen on the single wing.) You can purchase "Winning Single Wing Football" directly from Ken by going to www.singlewingfootball.com or you can send $24.95 (+ $4.95 shipping and handling) to Swift Press 2711 Main Street, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648-1014
YES, I KNOW THIS IS OLD NEWS. SORRY. I AM OUT OF TOWN AND UNABLE TO PUBLISH ON TUESDAY. LOOK FOR THE NEWS AGAIN BY THE WEEKEND
"The
Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton,
subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the
Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available
through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois.
to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/
and click on "Publications and Products")
Or contact me if you'd like
to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give
you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General
Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now
serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All
profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions
and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of
the Black Lion Award).- I have my copy. It is
well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains
in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and
"Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all
those military terms, so that guys like you and me can
understand what they're talking about.
Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW
--- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS
SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003
"NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST"
inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois
BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM
THE BLACK LION AWARD
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Tom Matte is not in the Hall of Fame,
but his wristband is.
***********
If we were to turn on the TV and tune to almost anything
other than HGTV, we could quickly get the idea that our
scummy, hedonistic, immoral culture is producing a lot of
scummy, hedonistic, immoral young people. But fortunately,
we know better. We know we can still count on the best and
the brightest among them to uphold our principles.
Right?
At
only 5-9, 175, Tommy McDonald was the smallest player in pro
football for most of his career.
***********
Let's hear it for a great American company!